David Droga, founder and creative chairman of Droga5, will be honored with the Lion of St. Mark award at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Droga is one of the most awarded creatives at Cannes Lions. He won his first Lion aged 19 and has achieved more than 70 Gold and 15 Grand Prix/Titanium Lions in his career to date.
“The Lion of St. Mark recognizes an individual who has made a significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in our industry,” said Jose Papa, managing director of Cannes Lions. “His drive, passion and unbounded creative skill has led him to deliver continual award-winning results. He’s set the global standard.”
Droga commented, “I have worked with more talented people and had more opportunities than one creative person deserves. The Lion of St. Mark honor is beyond my wildest ambitions. It’s incredible to be recognized with this, when you still feel you have so much more to do and prove. But I will soak it up with pride and humility.”
At 22, David Droga became a partner and executive creative director of OMON Sydney and in 1996, he moved to Singapore to become executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and regional creative director of Saatchi Asia. At age 29, Droga was promoted to executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi London, and under his charge, they were awarded, for the first time, Agency of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2002.
In 2003 Droga became the first-ever worldwide chief creative officer of the Publicis Network in New York. In less than two years, Publicis enjoyed a very public creative and new business renaissance around the world. Restless to launch his own agency, David founded Droga5 in New York City in 2006. In a little more than 10 years, Droga5 has seen unprecedented success and become one of the industry’s most revered and influential agencies, including earning back-to-back accolades as Cannes Lions Independent Agency of the Year in 2015 and 2016.
Droga will be presented with the Lion of St. Mark during the Festival awards ceremony on Saturday, June 24. Droga will also be speaking on the Cannes Lions stage on Friday, June 23.
Cannes Lions takes place from June 17-24 in Cannes, France.
Droga will join a roster of previous Lion of St. Mark winners, which consists of:
- 2016: Marcello Serpa, former partner, AlmapBBDO
- 2015: Bob Greenberg, founder, chairman and CEO, R/GA
- 2014: Joe Pytka, director, PYTKA
- 2013: Lee Clow, chairman, TBWAMedia Arts Lab, director of Media Arts, TBWAWorldwide
- 2012: Dan Wieden, co-founder and global executive creative director, Wieden+Kennedy
- 2011: Sir John Hegarty, worldwide creative director, founder, BBH
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More